Weather monitoring and forecasting is improved by increased granularity in data sampling. Traditional fixed-site sampling is done at airports and in some cases road weather stations (small weather stations along a highway); however, these fixed sites are usually separated by dozens of kilometers. Significant weather often goes undetected between fixed sites.
Telemetry and/or telematics as related to vehicles are growing fields, as evidenced by U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,706,965; 7,813,870; 7,831,380; 7,899,611; 7,908,076; 7,912,627; 7,912,628; 8,014,936; 8,065,073; 8,090,524; 8,160,805; and 8,190,362, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
Precipitation sensors such as those used to detect rain falling on a vehicle windscreen measure changes in reflectance or capacitance at that surface. Unless there is a mechanism in place to remove accumulated moisture, the precipitation level detected does not give a reliable indication that precipitation is continuing due to mobility of the accumulation. Such sensors are also particularly poor at detecting dry snow and hail as individual particles may not even contact the sensing elements.
Detection of approaching storm fronts is particularly difficult. Weather radars can give an indication, but this is generally over a large geographical area and do not give a good indication within smaller areas. It is generally accepted that electrical discharges are associated with active storm fronts. These may manifest themselves as discharges between clouds and earth or within the storm clouds. Discharges within clouds may, or may not, be visible or audible from the ground. Both types of discharge do produce characteristic bursts of broad-band electrical interference which may be detected by a radio receiver. Algorithms have been developed to convert such bursts into an estimation of distance between receiver and discharge location. The majority of discharges are associated with the leading edge of the storm system and the distance estimation of the discharge is therefore and estimation of the distance to the storm front. When measurements are made over a period of time from multiple vehicles, or a single vehicle at multiple locations, it is possible to use such data to triangulate the location and heading of the storm front.